Bruce M. McLaren’s research while affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University and other places

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, CSEDU 2018, held in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, in March 2018. The 27 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 193 submissions. The papers deal with the following topics: new educational environments, best practices and case studies of innovative technology-based learning strategies, institutional policies on computer-supported education including open and distance education.

Excitement about learning from computer-based games has been palpable in recent years and has led to the development of many educational games. However, there are relatively few sound empirical studies in the scientific literature that have shown the benefits of learning mathematics from games as opposed to more traditional approaches. The empirical study reported in this paper provides evidence that a mathematics educational game can provide superior learning opportunities, as well as be more engaging. In a study involving 153 students from two middle schools, 70 students learned about decimals from playing an educational game-Decimal Point-whereas 83 students learned the same content by a more conventional, computer-based approach. The game led to significantly better gain scores in solving decimal problems, on both an immediate (d = .43) and delayed (d = .37) posttest and was rated as significantly more enjoyable (d = .95). Low prior knowledge students especially benefitted from the game. This paper also summarizes the game’s design characteristics.

In this paper, we propose a computational approach to modeling the Zone of Proximal Development of students who learn using a natural-language tutoring system for physics. We employ a student model to predict students’ performance based on their prior knowledge and activity when using a dialogue tutor to practice with conceptual, reflection questions about high-school level physics. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of the “Grey Area”, the area in which the student model cannot predict with acceptable accuracy whether a student has mastered the knowledge components or skills present in a particular step.

A prior study showed that middle school students who used the educational game Decimal Point achieved significantly higher gain scores on immediate and delayed posttests of decimal understanding than students who learned with a more conventional computer-based learning tool. This paper reports on new analyses of the data from that study, providing new insights into the benefits of the game. First, females benefited more than males from the game. Second, students in the game condition performed better on the more difficult intervention problems. This paper presents these new analyses and discusses why the educational game might have led to these results.

Research has shown that the construction of visual representations may have a positive effect on cognitive skills, including argumentation. In this paper we present a study on learning argumentation through computer-supported argument diagramming. We specifically focus on whether students, when provided with an argument-diagramming tool, create better diagrams, are more motivated, and learn more when working with other students or on their own. We use learning analytics to evaluate a variety of student activities: pre and post questionnaires to explore motivational changes; the argument diagrams created by students to evaluate richness, complexity and completion; and pre and post knowledge tests to evaluate learning gains.

Excitement about learning from computer-based games has been papable in recent years and has led to the development of many educational games. However, there are relatively few sound empirical studes in the scientific literature that have shown the benefits of learning mathematics from games as opposed to more traditional approaches. The empirical study reported in this paper provides evidence that a mathematics educational game can provide superior learning opportunities, as well as be more engaging. In a study involving 153 students from two middle schools, 70 students learned about decimals from playing an educational game-Decimal Point-whereas 83 students learned the same content by a more conventional, computer-based approach. The game led to significantly better gain scores in solving decimal problems, on both an immediate (d = .43) and delayed (d = .37) posttest and was rated as significantly more enjoyable (d = .95). Low prior knowledge students especially benefitted from the game. This paper also summarizes the game's design characteristics.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, CSEDU 2016, held in Rome, Italy, in April 2016. The 29 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 164 submissions. The papers deal with the following topics: new educational environments, best practices and case studies of innovative technology-based learning strategies, institutional policies on computer-supported education including open and distance education.